103 replies to this topic

[xe N on]

Sandpit, on 29 December 2015 - 05:58 PM, said:

It has nothing to do with assaults, it has to do with poor players who think if you're not "fast enough" you're just "bait".

Trust me, it's Tier 3 and below that you run into this more often. Most of the top tier players know it's not generally a good idea to just abandon 50% (or more) of your team's firepower and armor.

/signed

Espacially if I play mediums, my first thing in game is pressing "q" to locate the assault lance and close the gap as fast as possible. In PUG games the team wins that protect and support their assault lance and allow them to field in their firepower.

Edited by xe N on, 30 December 2015 - 03:19 AM.

[TexAce]

Sandpit, on 29 December 2015 - 05:58 PM, said:

It has nothing to do with assaults, it has to do with poor players who think if you're not "fast enough" you're just "bait".

Trust me, it's Tier 3 and below that you run into this more often. Most of the top tier players know it's not generally a good idea to just abandon 50% (or more) of your team's firepower and armor.

Agree its not the assaults, its stupid players.

[VinJade]

I think the only time mechs should not stick around is if they are lights and speed is what keeps them alive, it makes them perfect to capture bases, grab resource points, back stab, ect.

with that said medium mechs such as some of the swaybacks and the hunchback are perfect for bodyguard roles.

[TexAce]

VinJade, on 30 December 2015 - 03:37 AM, said:

I think the only time mechs should not stick around is if they are lights and speed is what keeps them alive, it makes them perfect to capture bases, grab resource points, back stab, ect.

with that said medium mechs such as some of the swaybacks and the hunchback are perfect for bodyguard roles.

And 90% of other mediums too. Cents, Crabs, Enforcers, all of them can be bodyguars. Only cicadas and to some extent Kintaros have a more special role.

[VinJade]

Yeah, those too.
some odd reason I forgot about them...
I think anything that can mount AC 20s, ranged weapons, and other support weapons If possible) work well.

I remember in the TT games I once had two HGR Urbies protect an Atlas.. funniest things you would ever see.. paper thin armor and slow as hell but a fun surprise for unsuspecting players, lol.

though online I think Hunchbacks are the best besides the Cent & Enforcers.

[SergalBait]

In my Yen Lo, I run off on my own, for a variety of reasons [I won't do it in a proper team game, but I do in pug matches]. And it generally just boils down to..my teammates are so **** that its SAFER for me to be off on my own. even though going off on your own is SUPPOSED to be suicide. I don't get arms chopped off, I don't have my legs strafed. I don't have allies boxing me in so I'm stuck in enemy fire.

I like to support assaults, but I don't like when they just sit back and cower in all their armor, afraid to take the first step and lead a charge.

If someone starts talking teamwork or showing that they've got some cognitive faculties..I'll stick together. Otherwise? Yes, I do run off on my own, because it gets more accomplished. I don't like having to do it, but it works.

[Bud Crue]

I too am a bit boggled by the current solo que behavior regarding Assault abondonment. My SOP is to immediately turn and head off to find the fatties, group with them, pick out one to stand by (never behind) and support (except on river city, then if I am in something going 130kph or more I try and sneak around to spot). In the good ole days, most of the team seemed to do the same thing (rarely all, but usually most). Lately, I am often the only one joining up with the Assaults. Perhaps this is some new "meta" strategy that needs to be communicated? Until then, I will continue to try and support the big guys, even if I am the only one doing it.

Since the OP made it clear this is a whine thread...on a related note: what's with the trend of 5-6 blue doritos (sometimes more) scattering for a good 30-60 seconds after the start of the match, then turning in circles for another 30 seconds and then once again shooting off in a random direction? I swear it almost looks ritualistic. I am not talking about getting your bearings here (that takes just a moment). This is a repeated pattern of behavior I've seen a lot of lately. To the point where if I see the majority of the team do it, I will leeroy toward the nearest group of enemies and drop a UAV in hopes to get these scatter-ers to join up and fight the enemy. It is really odd and I don't think the standard line of "its just noobs" accounts for it.

[Yosharian]

Catalina Steiner, on 29 December 2015 - 01:30 PM, said:

I can't remember starting a whine thread before but this time it's needed. I have plenty of Assault Mechs to master (Executioners, Maulers, my new Heavy Metal) but Assaults are impossible to play right now. I lost most of my matches and died in enemy fire, being ambushed without doing anything.

Last match we lost in Caustic Valley, losing all three assaults in the first two minutes. I know how to drive an Assault and I know how to escape from enemy flanking in the beginning but there is no chance.

I have no other choice then to stop mastering my Assaults and try another faster class. I know it's common to have crappy matches in tournament times but... it was never that bad.

By the way, I'm talking about the solo queue. I don't need advices how to play mechs and I don't need advices to play group queue or join an unit. This thread is just for crying my eyes out, okay?

I completely agree that certain assaults are rapidly becoming less useful. That's why I just mastered an Executioner.

[Yozzman]

Main reason is that the spawn points on some maps are really bad... Too far from eachother etc.

[MeiSooHaityu]

It would be nice if assault mechs spawned together in the middle lance.

[WarPickle]

We once went left on Caustic.. the time space continuum started to unravel and stars started going supernova!

In my assaults..
Caustic... pretty much early death sentence while screaming for the team to come back and support

Frozen City.. start on north side skirmish.... might as well transmit your will because you will barely get up the hill before you are dead most times..

In my lights..

I always head for the assault lance to try and help out being ecm or my extra pew pews (mostly because I know the loneliness of assault piloting)

In mediums

I head for assaults even though not popular among the others.. I will fight with them until my cold dead hand is taken from my Nvidia Dawn Bobblehead

I hate Nascar!

[Zibmo]

On the other hand, I usually run directly towards the Assaults to give them cover. But when they mill about for 5 minutes before striking out in 4 different directions, usually ignoring chat, it's frustrating, to say the least. And during that extended duration that I'm trying to sort them out (while they largely ignore me anyway), I'm not helping the rest of the team.

My only hope, at that point, is that the enemy has the same problem my team does and that their fatarses will be late to the party, too. At least that way, I can <maybe> swing the battle in our favor just by running around them shooting (and usually getting tagged by my own assaults, but that goes with the game). Unless they have someone just as stupidly team oriented as I am, in which case the assaults on both sides are on their own...

It's a two edged sword. Protect the largest weapons platforms in the game at the risk of losing the rest of the team or going with the flow and hoping the Assaults can get their sh1t together before the game is all but over.

[Khobai]

Quote

It would be nice if assault mechs spawned together in the middle lance.

Thats a stopgap measure at best though.

While it would help make assaults more playable, it doesnt actually make the assault weight class and heavy weight class equal.

We need all four weight classes to be equal. Which means a completely revamped skill tree where each weight class gets its own skill tree. That would allow for individual adjustment of each weight class seperate of the other three. So if one weight class is too strong or too weak its skill tree can be buffed/nerfed to compensate.

Edited by Khobai, 30 December 2015 - 07:54 AM.

[Bilbo]

Sandpit, on 29 December 2015 - 05:58 PM, said:

It has nothing to do with assaults, it has to do with poor players who think if you're not "fast enough" you're just "bait".

Trust me, it's Tier 3 and below that you run into this more often. Most of the top tier players know it's not generally a good idea to just abandon 50% (or more) of your team's firepower and armor.

...

I'm pushing through tier 3 now and I'm not seeing the problem in my Atlas. Generally speaking, if I am on my own for more than a few moments, it is because I chose to be or the rest of the lance decided to go afk.

[MeiSooHaityu]

Khobai, on 30 December 2015 - 07:52 AM, said:

Thats a stopgap measure at best though.

While it would help make assaults more playable, it doesnt actually make the assault weight class and heavy weight class equal.

We need all four weight classes to be equal.

It would be a nice addition. Place the slowest class in the middle of your team instead of on the fringe where they can more easily get left behind. It also means if the team goes left or right, the assaults are right in the middle and can still adapt to a new strategy without getting left behind...as easily anyway. I see it as more beneficial than a simple stopgap measure.

As for need all classes to be equal, the Assault will always be the heaviest and on average, slower than other mechs (even if durability or firepower is increased). Even after any of those tweaks, it will still be slow and will require better positioning.

[Yosharian]

Bilbo, on 30 December 2015 - 07:53 AM, said:

I'm pushing through tier 3 now and I'm not seeing the problem in my Atlas. Generally speaking, if I am on my own for more than a few moments, it is because I chose to be or the rest of the lance decided to go afk.

Atlas is potentially faster than a Dire tho, an Atlas can easily hit 60kph while a Dire only dreams of that kind of speed, plus Atlases are more maneuverable.

10KPH might not seem like a lot but it all adds up.

[Bilbo]

Yosharian, on 30 December 2015 - 07:57 AM, said:

Atlas is potentially faster than a Dire tho, an Atlas can easily hit 60kph while a Dire only dreams of that kind of speed, plus Atlases are more maneuverable.

10KPH might not seem like a lot but it all adds up.

Should have clarified I guess. I'm running a 52 kph Atlas.

Edited by Bilbo, 30 December 2015 - 07:59 AM.

[Khobai]

The problem with increasing engine size on assaults though is that engine weight increases exponentially compared to engine rating.

So it gets to a point where youre just better off just playing a heavy than a fast assault. Mechs like the gargoyle and executioner are well past that point... their huge engines make them garbage mechs.

[Phromethius]

It might be tier related too. I just came back after starting a family. It's been about 6 months. I'm putzin around in Tier 4 almost 3 now and I see the problem is more experience related. They just don't know to group up sometimes.

Also friendly fire. I mean I go out of my way to retrain myself by piloting my Locusts and Jenners and I am still having to pull MY shots from people cutting me off, point blank, behind my target. Centurions will bulldoze into my little low angled firing line as I put a 6 medium laser alpha into my kill stealing teammate. First one is never on purpose. After that it's on you.

Tried out my King Crab and I get the same feeling as OP. Center Torso seems weak but I am spreading damage. Then again I've only mastered Banshees and it is a King Crab afterall. ::shrug::

[AztecD]

also part of the problem is that they DOUBLED the armor on all mechs a while back because they where dying to fast and PGI wanted to protect pugs from their own idiocy .

this lead up to the current hardcore lights terrorizing in wolf packs because a single jenner can eat 2 AC40's and still run off laughing while the assault can barely turn to target.

BT Jenner
http://www.solaris7....Info.asp?ID=517

MWO Jenner
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...1bed0e4fb4ff80e

Edited by AztecD, 30 December 2015 - 09:21 AM.